An excellent loop with great views, an easy climb, and long varied descent that doesn’t have any real technical difficulties. The Refuge de Furfande is a beautiful spot to spent an hour or two.

The Ascent

Very little to report for this one, other than it’s a super efficient climb on a mixture of 4×4 track with tarmac sections. There are very few junctions, so it’s incredibly easy to follow, and the Col de Furfande is signposted all the way. If you do happen to get lost on the climb, just pop your bike on Ebay and give up, because there’s very little hope for you.

The Descent

Off the Col de Furfande, there are a couple of options – either head directly for the Refuge de Furfande, or follow slightly longer route round by Les Granges de Furfande (as shown in the map below) – you can’t go wrong with either. After the Refuge, there’s a great section of flat out traversing trail, brilliant fun, and mega views! The section around the Col de la Lauze offers the most technical riding, with rocky terrain, open switchbacks, and a fairly big drop to the right. However the trail is fairly wide, and the technicalities aren’t particularly challenging. Pretty quickly, the trail speeds up and starts traversing around the mountain towards Le Queyron. Fast, flowing riding in the trees but with a fair amount of exposure to the right, however the resulting views are spectacular! There’s a short climb (around 10 minutes) up to Le Queyron, and then a short section on a fireroad before the singletrack continues. The fast and flowing singletrack continues, sometimes fairly flat, but always enough pitch so keep up momentum, and seemingly never-ending! Towards the bottom, there are a few fireroad crossings, but navigation is straightforward. There is a short section of awkward switchbacks on loose rock and shale at the bottom, but they are ridable without too much hassle.